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Yesterday, officers detained Ivan Safronov, an adviser to the head of Roscosmos. He had been working in this position for less than a year - or more precisely, two months. Before that, he had been a journalist for many years: he worked for prestigious publications, wrote about the defense industry, and was part of the presidential media pool. He is accused of treason and collaborating with NATO agents.
Is he a spy? I have no idea. The investigation and the court will answer this question. There is too little information to draw independent conclusions.
Could he have been recruited by foreign intelligence services? Without a doubt! He was in the "risk group" at both his last and previous jobs.
Today's topic is not about Ivan Safronov, but about recruitment and the principles of building an agent network. This is relevant for intelligence activities, and for the fight against crime, and even for business... What roles are there, how is the work conducted, how are "personnel" selected.
And after reading, decide for yourself: could Safronov have been an agent? And perhaps there are "agents" in your circle?
Hello, and today's topic will be devoted to a vital skill, namely recruitment. Firstly, it is an interesting topic, espionage, secret risk, manipulation. Secondly, many spy tricks are quite applicable in life, in business and even in politics. The idea of this work is contradictory, remember Vysotsky. A parody of a bad detective. Always in leather gloves, what should I do with fingerprints, lived in a Soviet hotel, not a Soviet person.
Then the agent recruits a Soviet citizen with low, as it seems to him, social responsibility and entrusts him with the implementation of various kinds of provocations. But the enemy did not know the fool. The one to whom he entrusted everything was a security officer, an intelligence major and a wonderful family man. Well, then the scenario is clear. Caught red-handed, face down on the floor, interrogations, identification of connections, agent networks and the triumph of counterintelligence.
If everything were so simple, spies would be caught in no time. But at the same time, our intelligence officers would fail operations incomparably more often than they do now. The fact is that recruitment, which seems to be the key task in intelligence activities, is only the tip of a huge iceberg. In reality, the network plays a decisive role. Effective intelligence-gathering networks take a long time to build, sometimes over years or even decades.
This applies to intelligence on the territory of another state and, for example, to intelligence on the territory of the North Caucasus, where terrorist gangs are still encountered. And to the work of law enforcement agencies to detect crime. Wherever general principles apply, people performing different roles are needed. What are these roles? First, spotters are needed.
They select people of interest to the special services, collect general information about the marital status of recruitment candidates, their relationships with family and friends, political outlook, financial situation and other information. Then recruiters come into play. They are engaged in the final development of the recruitment object. These are not the same people as tipsters. In case of recruitment failure, access to the object must remain. The next category of specialists are informants. They are also not the same as recruiters, including those recruited.
But in addition to these, there are also embedded employees. Informants are not all the same. First of all, embedded informants are intelligence agents or undercover police officers if we are talking about fighting crime, and not with intelligence. They managed to penetrate important positions, if we are talking about intelligence, then government posts, research institutions or political parties, but not necessarily.
An excellent informant can be, for example, a secretary or assistant of a valuable source of information, or an interpreter for top officials during important negotiations. Formally, he or she is not a specialist, but gigabytes of valuable intelligence pass through such a person. If we are talking about crime, then these can be gang members or even members of the community close to the gang's leadership. Or lawyers who, it is scary to imagine, violate professional ethics.
Unfortunately, this also happens. In general, embedded agents transmit important intelligence information. There are also informants for double-checking. As a rule, these are the same agents on the spot, whom embedded informants may not know about, or this is someone who does not have access to all the information, but knowing what needs to be checked is able to do this. Or determine by bone signs inside the system whether the information is reliable or not.
There are also mobile informants. By nature, they often travel in their official activities and because of this they have a unique circle of business communication. There are many specialties in a well-built network. For example, radio operators. You might ask, why do we need them when we have the Internet? The Internet is an extremely unreliable thing. That's one. And radio operators don't tap out codes in Morse code these days. The equipment is more serious and complicated. And they can transmit or receive information over super-short distances, literally 5, 10 or 30 meters.
A so-called radio operator comes, say, to a shopping center or a park. He stands for a while, a minute, for example, in the right place and during this time transmits valuable information to a carrier via Bluetooth. Remember how people laughed at the story of spy stones a few years ago? They laughed in vain, by the way. It's a working scheme.
After some time, a person with a device appears on the spot, which takes this information to its carrier via the same radio signal, and then transmits it, for example, to the diplomatic mission of its country, and then the flash drive flies in diplomatic mail to Washington, Beijing or anywhere. Delivery men. These deliver agents or rescue them. This is a whole science and art. They are often needed when an agent has screwed up and is being monitored and wiretapped. Taking an object away from under the noses of the special services is a real challenge.
Couriers are important, who deliver not only documents, but information carriers, samples of soil, water, air, biomaterials. Ferrymen. They live near state borders and know how to transfer across them, bypassing official routes. A person crossed, say, to the border in the Baltics, and he lived in the territory of the European Union. Or ended up in Mexico, on the border of the USA. Or a person knows a good hole in the fence on the territory of a military enterprise, and preferably more than one.
People, of course, can combine several functions, but in an ideal model they can do everything, but the division of labor is observed. Then, in case of failure of one, the network will not be destroyed, since the agent does not know the other participants. Formation of a proven and reliable network takes years. A good network works for decades, when some agents are replaced by others, and the network continues to work.
All this is primarily about reconnaissance on enemy territory. But today, criminal and terrorist organizations have learned to use the same principles. So, for example, at the preparation stage, a terrorist attack can be prevented only in three cases. When secret agents are embedded in a criminal group, when there are informants, when interception of negotiations and correspondence is established. And it is better to do everything at once. It is this kind of work, for example, that allows the Federal Security Services to prevent dozens of terrorist attacks in Russia every year.
But this system has been formed since the mid-90s step by step. And the network of informants among religious and public figures close to radical Islam played an important role. They recruit on ideas, fears and money - these are the three eternal whales. When I interviewed a Chechen terrorist who took part in the hostage taking in Budyonnovsk, he told me how much they believed in their idea, that they did not take money even if it was easy to take.
The idea is at the head of the corner. And religious fanatics love symbolism, and therefore dates and locations are important when committing a crime. Others are recruited on the basis of incriminating evidence - betrayal of a spouse, a boss, a homeland, the presence of confirmed facts of corruption, or as in the criminal environment - smearing with blood, that is, forcing them to commit murder, fear of being exposed or appearing in court.
And some are simply bribed, like Vysotsky in that song There will be money, a house in Chicago, lots of women and cars, but in any of the options, the recruiter's maximum task is to create psychological dependence. That's why informers often look for psychologically weak people or those currently experiencing some kind of psychological problem to recruit.
Look around, are there any informers or recruiters in your circle? Or maybe you are already being used in the dark and are a source of valuable information for someone? Suddenly you, right you, who is now reading this topic, are in the risk zone. Be vigilant, friends. And remember, a chatterbox is a godsend, you know for whom. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
Is he a spy? I have no idea. The investigation and the court will answer this question. There is too little information to draw independent conclusions.
Could he have been recruited by foreign intelligence services? Without a doubt! He was in the "risk group" at both his last and previous jobs.
Today's topic is not about Ivan Safronov, but about recruitment and the principles of building an agent network. This is relevant for intelligence activities, and for the fight against crime, and even for business... What roles are there, how is the work conducted, how are "personnel" selected.
And after reading, decide for yourself: could Safronov have been an agent? And perhaps there are "agents" in your circle?
Hello, and today's topic will be devoted to a vital skill, namely recruitment. Firstly, it is an interesting topic, espionage, secret risk, manipulation. Secondly, many spy tricks are quite applicable in life, in business and even in politics. The idea of this work is contradictory, remember Vysotsky. A parody of a bad detective. Always in leather gloves, what should I do with fingerprints, lived in a Soviet hotel, not a Soviet person.
Then the agent recruits a Soviet citizen with low, as it seems to him, social responsibility and entrusts him with the implementation of various kinds of provocations. But the enemy did not know the fool. The one to whom he entrusted everything was a security officer, an intelligence major and a wonderful family man. Well, then the scenario is clear. Caught red-handed, face down on the floor, interrogations, identification of connections, agent networks and the triumph of counterintelligence.
If everything were so simple, spies would be caught in no time. But at the same time, our intelligence officers would fail operations incomparably more often than they do now. The fact is that recruitment, which seems to be the key task in intelligence activities, is only the tip of a huge iceberg. In reality, the network plays a decisive role. Effective intelligence-gathering networks take a long time to build, sometimes over years or even decades.
This applies to intelligence on the territory of another state and, for example, to intelligence on the territory of the North Caucasus, where terrorist gangs are still encountered. And to the work of law enforcement agencies to detect crime. Wherever general principles apply, people performing different roles are needed. What are these roles? First, spotters are needed.
They select people of interest to the special services, collect general information about the marital status of recruitment candidates, their relationships with family and friends, political outlook, financial situation and other information. Then recruiters come into play. They are engaged in the final development of the recruitment object. These are not the same people as tipsters. In case of recruitment failure, access to the object must remain. The next category of specialists are informants. They are also not the same as recruiters, including those recruited.
But in addition to these, there are also embedded employees. Informants are not all the same. First of all, embedded informants are intelligence agents or undercover police officers if we are talking about fighting crime, and not with intelligence. They managed to penetrate important positions, if we are talking about intelligence, then government posts, research institutions or political parties, but not necessarily.
An excellent informant can be, for example, a secretary or assistant of a valuable source of information, or an interpreter for top officials during important negotiations. Formally, he or she is not a specialist, but gigabytes of valuable intelligence pass through such a person. If we are talking about crime, then these can be gang members or even members of the community close to the gang's leadership. Or lawyers who, it is scary to imagine, violate professional ethics.
Unfortunately, this also happens. In general, embedded agents transmit important intelligence information. There are also informants for double-checking. As a rule, these are the same agents on the spot, whom embedded informants may not know about, or this is someone who does not have access to all the information, but knowing what needs to be checked is able to do this. Or determine by bone signs inside the system whether the information is reliable or not.
There are also mobile informants. By nature, they often travel in their official activities and because of this they have a unique circle of business communication. There are many specialties in a well-built network. For example, radio operators. You might ask, why do we need them when we have the Internet? The Internet is an extremely unreliable thing. That's one. And radio operators don't tap out codes in Morse code these days. The equipment is more serious and complicated. And they can transmit or receive information over super-short distances, literally 5, 10 or 30 meters.
A so-called radio operator comes, say, to a shopping center or a park. He stands for a while, a minute, for example, in the right place and during this time transmits valuable information to a carrier via Bluetooth. Remember how people laughed at the story of spy stones a few years ago? They laughed in vain, by the way. It's a working scheme.
After some time, a person with a device appears on the spot, which takes this information to its carrier via the same radio signal, and then transmits it, for example, to the diplomatic mission of its country, and then the flash drive flies in diplomatic mail to Washington, Beijing or anywhere. Delivery men. These deliver agents or rescue them. This is a whole science and art. They are often needed when an agent has screwed up and is being monitored and wiretapped. Taking an object away from under the noses of the special services is a real challenge.
Couriers are important, who deliver not only documents, but information carriers, samples of soil, water, air, biomaterials. Ferrymen. They live near state borders and know how to transfer across them, bypassing official routes. A person crossed, say, to the border in the Baltics, and he lived in the territory of the European Union. Or ended up in Mexico, on the border of the USA. Or a person knows a good hole in the fence on the territory of a military enterprise, and preferably more than one.
People, of course, can combine several functions, but in an ideal model they can do everything, but the division of labor is observed. Then, in case of failure of one, the network will not be destroyed, since the agent does not know the other participants. Formation of a proven and reliable network takes years. A good network works for decades, when some agents are replaced by others, and the network continues to work.
All this is primarily about reconnaissance on enemy territory. But today, criminal and terrorist organizations have learned to use the same principles. So, for example, at the preparation stage, a terrorist attack can be prevented only in three cases. When secret agents are embedded in a criminal group, when there are informants, when interception of negotiations and correspondence is established. And it is better to do everything at once. It is this kind of work, for example, that allows the Federal Security Services to prevent dozens of terrorist attacks in Russia every year.
But this system has been formed since the mid-90s step by step. And the network of informants among religious and public figures close to radical Islam played an important role. They recruit on ideas, fears and money - these are the three eternal whales. When I interviewed a Chechen terrorist who took part in the hostage taking in Budyonnovsk, he told me how much they believed in their idea, that they did not take money even if it was easy to take.
The idea is at the head of the corner. And religious fanatics love symbolism, and therefore dates and locations are important when committing a crime. Others are recruited on the basis of incriminating evidence - betrayal of a spouse, a boss, a homeland, the presence of confirmed facts of corruption, or as in the criminal environment - smearing with blood, that is, forcing them to commit murder, fear of being exposed or appearing in court.
And some are simply bribed, like Vysotsky in that song There will be money, a house in Chicago, lots of women and cars, but in any of the options, the recruiter's maximum task is to create psychological dependence. That's why informers often look for psychologically weak people or those currently experiencing some kind of psychological problem to recruit.
Look around, are there any informers or recruiters in your circle? Or maybe you are already being used in the dark and are a source of valuable information for someone? Suddenly you, right you, who is now reading this topic, are in the risk zone. Be vigilant, friends. And remember, a chatterbox is a godsend, you know for whom. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
